“Antwone Fisher” is a drama based on the real-life story of a young Navy Sailor. This film stars Derek Luke, Joy Bryant, and two-time Academy Award winning actor, Denzel Washington, who also directed this movie.

Antwone Fisher (Derek Luke) is a young sailor with a bad temper and a problem with fighting his shipmates. He is ordered to see a Navy psychiatrist to help him control his anger. The psychiatrist that tries to help Fisher is Dr. Jerome Davenport (Denzel Washington).

At first Fisher refuses to speak and will not acknowledge that there is anything wrong. Davenport orders Fisher to visit his office once a week until he decides to talk. Davenport does not want to give up on him; he knows that Fisher has something important to say, and he believes that he can help Fisher.

During his sessions with Davenport, Fisher is forced to confront his horrifying past. He feels that everyone he cared about in his life abandoned him. Davenport helps Fisher deal with his past, but believes the only way Fisher can get over his problems is to seek out the family he never knew.

After therapy, with the help of his girlfriend Cheryl (Joy Bryant), Fisher discovers that he has the courage to search for his family and confront those who hurt him in the past.

The only problem with this film is that the audience is well aware that Davenport has marital problems, but it is not discussed until the last few lines of the conclusion.

This is a heart-warming, feel-good, inspirational story. Newcomers Derek Luke and Joy Bryant give outstanding performances in their first roles. James Brolin also makes his cameo appearance as Fisher’s commanding officer. This film is the directorial debut of Denzel Washington, who did an outstanding job as both an actor and a director.

This movie was written by Antwone Fisher and is based on his autobiography “Finding Fish.” The story demonstrates that anyone going through difficult times can make it, just like Antwone Fisher. It is definitely a must-see.